Do you train on the MTB indoors? (Sport specific) or that doesn’t really matter?
I do a mix of riding. I actually do a lot of endurance work on my MTB where I ride a combo of both road and dirt. Almost all of my intervals and sprint work outdoors, I do on my MTB.
Only time I’m on the road outside is for max power testing or when I’m really tired.
I’ll pull a few graphs later to illustrate why.
Trying SSBHV 1 &2 for the first time after doing MV the past 3 years. Doing HV modified to add an extra week of rest. Instead of 6 weeks and 6 weeks, I’m doing 5 weeks, 4 weeks, 4 weeks (13 weeks total). Only midway through the second week and curious how my body is going to handle this as my legs are sore already . Workouts are mentally tough towards the end but doable so far.
44 y/o, MTB
Did Tallac+4 this AM, which comes in the last phase of SSBHVII. I didn’t struggle to finish at all. In fact, the workouts seem to be getting easier to complete over the past couple of weeks rather than me feeling worn down. Still not sure if that is a good sign, or a sign I should be upping my efforts a little bit.
At least I am confident that I will be fully recovered after next week. Not expecting I’ll see much of a bump in FTP on my next ramp - wouldn’t even be surprised if it stays flat - since everything has been 94% or lower, but chomping at the bit to move on from SS and into harder efforts.
Finished the last week of SSBHV II work feeling great and let myself flex a little.
Followed up Tallac+4 with Juneau-1 the next day - which is 4x(2x9min) at a target of 88% - and went:
90, 96%
93, 99%
95%, 99%
96%, 102%
So clearly feeling good coming into the end of the plan.
Had a rest day, then my last major workout before recovery week was yesterday, Galena+3 - 4x20 at 90% - and went 92%, 93%, 94%, 97%
Definitely hard, but not destroyed.
Did every workout and I stayed on target for the vast majority of the workouts - a first for me. it seems to have paid off incredibly well. I’m able to do a lot of work in that 90+% range, quite possibly more than ever.
Along with this, I have been focusing on making sure I get 8hrs of sleep a night, fuel my workouts, and focus on recovery. These things are preached hard in the podcast and so far it seems to be working!
Looking forward to the build phase and trying to lift that FTP up. Don’t think I could be in a better spot to do that right now! Makes the last 11 weeks so worth it.
Just did a ramp today: estimated threshold power jumped from 283 at beginning of base I to 291 by end of base II. So a huge success.
Starting build and found a peculiar issue that seems to have occurred because of how I laid out my rest day and hard/easy/moderate days…it gives me an intermediate ramp during build after a 3 week hard, 1 week easy, 1 week hard. I seem to have broken the system with how I arranged my days. I went back and re-arranged the days consistent with the standard plan with a monday rest day. Looking at my base and specialty plans, it puts the ramp on the correct days, but does have a consistent re-shuffling of days as the build.
How’s build going?
I’ve moved on to a personal coach instead of TR plans but oddly enough this year seems to mirror the 2020 season in that I am extending my base into January and February. I probably won’t start building until there is some racing to do, and even then I have no plans on peaking in 2021. Just going for long term gains and as much race experience as possible.
How are you finding having a coach? I did it for a few months but found myself wanting to do my own thing more often than not…
What events would you ordinarily race? My best 2 performances last season were during a so-called ‘Lockdown TT’!
This thread has been great to read through as somebody new to TR – thanks to all contributors.
Started SSBHV1 last week and found the first week very manageable. The weekend prior I did Lamarck at 311-312 which felt spot on for a 40k TT effort (avg HR for final rep was 180, bang on threshold and ended at 187). Did the ramp test on Tuesday and it said 320. I’ve always been better at shorter efforts despite being a tester, so I went with an FTP of 310.
Having completed all the workouts reasonably comfortably, I’ve decided to bump up my FTP to 320, mainly because I was doing 102/103% for the SS efforts, so maybe the ramp test was right. Will see how I get on this week then reevaluate.
I really value the reduced mental load of having someone else take care of scheduling my training and the adjustment of the plan to suit my needs. I knew it was time for a coach when I dug myself into a hole during the summer of 2020. All in all, I am a student of the sport and have a decent amount of knowledge and experince but when it comes to my own training I really needed an outside perspective.
I have mostly raced in the Midwest so the majority are crits and a handful of RRs and TTs as well as Track. Based purely on my power curve, my strengths lie in 1-5min efforts, probably due to racing crits and track. As a junior, I was decent in TTs but that was just due to being a bigger rider.
For the past year and a half, I have had my sights set on 1.5hr crits, 3+hr RRs, and now that I am planning on moving to Belgium, 2-3hr kermesses. So this is why I have been more interested in high volume training.
SSB HV is. a. mazing!!! I know this is only n=1, but on today’s ramp test I hit 288 all time power PRs (all time power between 1:56 - 13:40). I also tied my all time highest FTP of 302 and its only the end of December! SSBHV for the win . TR says HV is only for the select few so I’ve been “scared” to try it in fear of overtraining. But with COVID canceling everything and not looking great for 2021, I said what the hell I’ve give it a try. TR and @Nate_Pearson needs to push the SSB HV plans more.
FYI, I’ve done MV plans the previous 2 years with TR, just turned 44, 3.5 years cycling (MTB), 2.5 years structured training.
If your coach can’t adapt their program to the things you want to do on the bike… get a different coach. There’s some give and take obviously but if they say ‘you can’t do the Wednesday night group ride… ever’ just find a different coach.
The issue was less the coach’s flexibility and more me wanting to do things a certain way. Incidentally, this is why I like TR – all the sessions and progression are there, and you can tweak it to suit you.
Does anybody know why workouts are often repeated in SSBHV1?
These are all repeated:
- Wright Peak -2
- Geiger +2
- Eclipse (same week)
- Tallac +3
- Juneau -1
- Galena (same week)
Seems odd with so many workouts, and seemingly endless combinations of SS and rest intervals, to repeat the same workouts so close together.
I’m thinking of swapping some out with workouts that have similar IF/TSS and structure e.g. Tallac +3 for Marcus Baker -3
As u say there are repeating for a few times but this is sweetspot plan. So you all do sweetspot and the plan goes increasing the volume by letting your body to adopt (u do same workouts and your body gets used to it then it changes).
So i would (and i did) follow the plan and get the results. Now i am on the fifth week of ssb hv2. 5 weeks ago i finished ssb hv1 and imrpoved my ftp 5% (without skipping any workout or changin).
P.s: i am not a new rider, so i recommend to follow it as it says.
So basically you want the same work out, you just want it to be called something different, LOL. There are only so many ways you can design sweet spot intervals. I’m guessing you need a mental relief of feeling like you’re doing something different?
It was mainly curiosity – there are lots of alternatives, so why are the workouts repeated often in short space of time? But also, being on a dumb trainer, the variable power of a WO like Tallac is harder to hit because of gear changes than a single power number.
I understand what you’re saying, and I agree following the plan is important but, like @MI-XC said above, Tallac +3 and Marcus Baker -3 are essentially the same work out. It’s not a case of wanting to change the WO for something that will provide a different stimulus.
Wow every day except one…that’s massive. I wouldn’t be doing more than 3 sweet spot sessions a week, but of course TIZ is important. Am currently at 80-90mins per session, so I think 6 days a week would kill off my season before it starts